The Marann by Sky Warrior Book Publishing Read Free Book Online Page B

If she said the wrong
thing… she didn’t know if she’d spark an interstellar incident.
“I—” she started.
    The Sural waited. He seemed to have an
inexhaustible supply of patience… so far.
    “I never wanted to leave Earth,” she
murmured, looking down at her hands.
    His face lost some of its
impassiveness. “I understand what it is to love one’s homeworld,”
he said.
    She gave him a quick glance, then
looked back down to her hands and nodded. “It was a great honor to
be chosen for this mission.” She took a breath. “But I never sought
it.”
    “Why then did you come?”
    “Central Command chose me. I didn’t
have a choice. My government said if I came and you sent me back,
there would be no...” she searched for the word and didn’t find it,
“bad actions.”
    The Sural went still. “Repercussions,”
he said. His voice had gone flat.
    “Repercussions,” she repeated,
nodding. “But if I refused to go, I would regret it.”
    “They threatened you?”
    Marianne looked up. His face betrayed
nothing, but he seemed… outraged.
    “Not exactly. Central Command does not
threaten. It’s bad—” she couldn’t find the word, “—reputation.” He
shrugged a shoulder, appearing unsure what she meant. “They make it
clear it’s in your best interest to... um ... accept their
offers.”
    The Sural took a long drink from his
mug and set it down. He stared at her—no, he stared into her, with a penetrating look that seemed to pierce her soul. She
shifted in the chair again and looked away.
    “Do you wish to tutor my
daughter?” he asked, after a time. “Do you wish to stay of your own
accord? If not, I can send you back to your Admiral and request
another candidate. Perhaps Central Command will then send me a
tutor who desires to stay.”
    She started a little. “It was hard to
leave the life I built for myself in Casey,” she said in a soft
voice, “but it isn’t that I don’t want to be here now. I
never planned to leave Earth—I never planned to leave Casey—my
hometown—but...”
    Her eyes drifted to the garden
windows. It wasn’t so very different here. Tolar had trees,
flowers, something like grass, even birds. She set her jaw. If she
left now, she’d never know if she could have made a go of it. She
drew a deep breath and looked him in the eye.
    “Yes, high one. I do want to stay and
tutor your daughter.”
    “Excellent!” he said, with a smile she
thought might be warm beneath his chilly exterior. He gestured with
his hand to include the whole room. “My home is your
home.”
    Mi casa es su casa, she
thought, stifling a relieved sigh. Crisis averted. It seemed
to her she’d come close to dismissal twice. This assignment might
end up harder to keep than she thought.
    Her gaze wandered back to the windows,
to the tree where she’d startled the colorful, bird-like creatures,
the flutters. Their chatter drifted in through the open garden
door, sounding like budgies. She shook herself. No. He said he
doesn’t change his mind lightly.
    “Does something else trouble you,
proctor?”
    She pulled her attention back to the
Sural. He stared at her, brows drawn together, concern darkening
his mahogany eyes.
    “No, everything is fine,” she said,
picking up the half-eaten roll and taking a bite. She chased it
with tea to neutralize the spiciness. Tolari bread would take some
getting used to.
    He didn’t let it go. “You seemed
distressed by your thoughts.”
    “I have a lot to think
about.”
    “Because you left a great deal
behind.”
    She tried not to flinch and failed.
That struck home. Her friends, her house, her job—even all those
Christmas presents. Central Command had allowed her to bring none
of it with her. “I miss...” she inserted the English word,
“Christmas.”
    “Who is Christmas?”
    Now she laughed. “It’s a what, not a
who. A big celebration near the beginning of winter. People spend
time with their families, exchange gifts, eat and drink